


Side by Side [RETIRED]

by Audinosaurus



Category: Kamen Rider Drive, Kamen Rider Kuuga
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-02-23 23:26:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2559653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Audinosaurus/pseuds/Audinosaurus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world was tuned out, around him. Screaming children and gossiping mothers were of no interest to him.  And then there was something that caught his ear. "A man who chases dreams," The voice said. "Godai Yuusuke. 2047 skills in counting!" Kuuga/Drive crossover (of sorts); Godai is Shinnosuke's father, but is unaware until Shinnosuke himself says so.  Ichijo/Godai, no Drive pairings.  RETIRED DUE TO SERIES CHANGES; WILL BE WRITTEN.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting

It was nice to get lost in the sky. The soft lining of the clouds, the bright blue, the candy wrappers littered beside his hand. It was nice to just lay back and think about all kinds of nice things; Things like trying on a new tie, lounging around in his cool car, and the things his mother used to cook for him as a kid. 

He really liked his mom. She was a nice lady, someone who aged gracefully. She'd worked at a nurse for the last twenty years or so, but from what she'd said, it seemed like she'd worked in photography for his early life. He was too young to really remember that. There were a few things he did remember, though.

Shinnosuke remembered the way his mother would pet his hair while she red him bedtime stories. He remembered how she'd check every single detail or every thing she put together, anything from a plate of food to a room renovation.

She was a single mother, raising him on her own, until she'd moved to the city and met a nice cop. Before then, though, there were a few times she'd mentioned the name of his father. 

"Godai Yuusuke," she'd said. "A traveler. We met for a week and then he was gone."

Neither of them had a lot of anger towards him. Mother had said he was a traveler from the beginning; It wasn't his fault. She'd liked children, anyway, she defended, and eventually someone took his place and influenced Shinnosuke himself.

Shinnosuke sometimes liked to think about what his birth father was like, though. He imagined someone with a beard and lots of muscles, probably someone who could take down a bear with just his hands. He had to be someone strong and cool, he'd decided, for no apparent reason. 

The world was tuned out, around him. Screaming children and gossiping mothers were of no interest to him.

And then there was something that caught his ear.

"A man who chases dreams," The voice said. "Godai Yuusuke. 2047 skills in counting!"

Shinnosuke was on his feet before he even realized it. He'd tightened his tie and grabbed the man's shoulder before his eyes caught up.

"Sir, I need you to come with me!"


	2. Disccusing

Yuusuke sat on a bench and smiled, nonchalant as ever, as Shinnosuke stood in front of him with cold eyes and his arms crossed. 

"What is it, officer?" He asked.

"Where were you 24 years ago?!" Shinnosuke asked, as serious as he'd been about a lot of things.

"Exactly? I think I was in Moscow. . ." Godai leaned back, looking up as he thought. "That was a long time ago!"

"September 18th, 24 years ago!" He reiterated with the specifics; It was his birthday, of course.

"Definitely Moscow! I brought back a cute doll for my friend, Sawatari!" 

Shinnosuke rolled his eyes. "Nine months before that!"

Godai was quiet for a while, pinpointing it in his mind. That was one of the first times he'd gone out entirely on his own, and he'd never once been bound to one place for more than a week. After a moment, something clicked in his mind. That was an oddly specific measure of time.

"Isn't that like, a pregnancy's length?" He questioned, eyes wide.

Embarrassed that he'd somehow been caught, Shinnosuke crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.

"Did something happen?" Godai asked, prying.

"I was born September 18th, 1990! And nine months before then is when my mother met you!" The officer finally explained. It was now that he finally looked more at this stranger's appearance.

Godai Yuusuke wasn't anything like the image in his mind. He wasn't exactly muscular, and his face was clear and bright, without a trace of facial hair. The hair on his head was long and wavy, and it was fluffy enough to make him stand out. Very few men had hair like that in 2014, after all. He didn't look tough like he'd imagined; Godai Yuusuke looked like the most gentle soul there could ever be.

"So you're like, my son?" 

Godai was honestly surprised by it; After all, he was very young then. Sixteen, seventeen at most! He'd never known he had a child, but it made sense. He didn't carry business cards, back then. There'd been a few times he'd end up in the beds of people, but each time, he'd asked questions and carried condoms. There were times when even those wouldn't work, though; He'd just assumed they hadn't happened to him.

"Twenty four years, huh?" He stared up at Shinnosuke, curious. "Is your mother around? I want to talk to her! And to you, too!" Godai stood put his hand on Shinnosuke's shoulders for a moment, excited.

Shinnosuke stepped back on instinct, getting Godai's hands off of him before reaching for his phone, getting the number from his speed dial and offering it over.

It was strange, Shinnosuke noted, watching Godai take the phone excitedly and start talking before he'd even been greeted. It sounded very much as though he was catching up with an old friend, which seemed to casual to him. Shouldn't he be guilt ridden and upset or something, like in those old detective shows?

But he didn't. In fact, he seemed excited. He'd started making plans to meet with his mother, Shinnosuke overheard, sometime in the next few days. Before he knew it, the phone was hung up and handed back.

"We're going to have dinner!" Godai announced. "Two days from now in a diner across town! Your mother said she'd help you find it! I'll see you then?"

Shinnosuke furrowed his brow and nodded, bothered. "Right?"

Godai waved as he left.


	3. The Drive

Shinnosuke did not want to go to dinner with his family.

That wasn't unusual. Family dinners were kind of boring, as much as he loved his mother (and father, though he rarely showed up for these kinds of things due to work.) It didn't help, this time, that there was going to be someone new there-- His biological father.

He waited a good half hour into the arranged time before heading out, having sent a text to his mother explaining that he was having car issues.

"It's bad to lie to your mother, isn't it, Shinnosuke?" Belt-san had asked, almost teasing. 

"Shut up! This is complicated!" Shinnosuke barked in response, leaning back in his seat. "This is all weird for me!"

"You just need to find your drive and do what you have to!"

"Drive this, drive that, I'm not even transforming! Find something else to talk about, or at least put on some music!"

Belt-san complied, filling the rest of the journey with delightful pop music.


	4. Dinner

Shinnosuke tightened his tie and walked in, intending to look as intimidating and cool as he could as he found the table, but his demeanor shattered when he saw not just the two people he'd expected, but an extra pair: An intimidating looking older man in a coat and a child who couldn't have been older than ten, focused intently on a coloring sheet.

The officer found himself frozen in confusion for a while before his mother waved him over. Cautious steps took him to the table where his vision locked on to the newcomers of the situations.

"Shin," His mother said, as affectionate as ever. "Sit down! I want to introduce you."

He complied reluctantly, not daring to disobey his mother. 

"This is Godai, you've met him," She gestured. "And his husband, Kaoru Ichijo."

The intimidating-looking man bowed his head in his seat, polite. He seemed as docile as Godai did.

"And this girl," His mother wrapped an arm around the child, who squealed with delight. "Is their daughter, Nadeshiko Ichijo. She's just turned six."

"It's nice to meet you, Nii-san!" Nadeshiko cheerfully replied, grinning as bright as Shinnosuke'd ever seen from a child. He'd never been called 'Nii-san' by a child, and it threw him for a loop as he slowly realized that he was, in fact, 'Nii-san' if everything was as it seemed.

"So Godai's really. . .?" He asked, cynical about this. It was bizarre to think some random man off the street could be his genetic parent.

"Your blood-father? Yes." His mother answered, letting the child go. "It's good that you met him. It's nice to get to catch up with old friends." She seemed as gentle as the couple did, making the environment altogether strange for Shinnosuke. 

His eyes locked onto Godai (his father?) and his husband, their homosexuality having not settled in yet. They looked like an odd couple as it was. Ichijo looked so formal, with a suit and eyes hardened-- He certainly looked like he'd seen some things. Godai, on the other hand, showed no signs of wear. He wore a T-shirt and a plaid button up, open wide, even in a formal setting, and by looks he seemed a good fifteen years younger than his coated counterpart. 

After looking over these two for a moment, the taboo nature of two men having a child hit him, causing his brow to furrow. 

"Is Nadeshiko a child you had with someone else?" Shinnosuke directed towards Godai, almost accusatory, which earned him a glare from his mother, but the others seemed unphased.

"Nope!" Godai answered quickly. "Ichijo adopted her about four years ago! It's been a long time now, huh, Nade-chan?"

Nadeshiko nodded, before returning to the child's coloring sheet in front of her. 

The entire thing just made Shinnosuke feel a pit in his stomach. Why did they even arrange this dinner, when their families were so separate? Wouldn't it be fine to address it and move on? He just wanted to be done thinking about it.

They all just seemed to get along, but for him, he had no clue what they expected him to do. Was he supposed to consider Godai family, now? Was Godai going to even be around? What did Godai expect? Why did he have to meet Godai's family?

He forced his way through dinner, picking barely at the food he'd ordered, trying to figure these things out, listening to the conversation but hardly participating. Godai told these fantastical stories about adventures in everywhere from Egypt to Nepal, while his mother interjected stories about the bizarre injuries she'd seen in her field as an ER nurse.

He picked up a few things. Ichijo's mother had apparently been a nurse, before her retirement, and Godai had a younger sister who'd recently had a child. Nadeshiko's favorite color was silver.

Shinnosuke had no clue what to think.


	5. Attachment

It was late 2010. 

Ichijo stood on Miura Beach, staring into the horizon. It was cold and grey, and for him, it was definitely miserable. The police officer was buried deep in thought, conflicted.

The only thing that could have distracted him did, the eventual hand on his shoulder from Godai. He jumped, startled, as he turned to look.

"Yuusuke." Ichijo replied, brow furrowed. "Why do you have sand in your hair?"

"Huh--?" Godai shook his head, sending sand around, making Ichijo laugh and cover his face. "I tripped on my way over here! Sorry!" He was grinning as brightly as ever. "Hey-- You've got things on your mind! Tell me what you're thinking of!"

The reality of the situation was that Ichijo and Godai had not met in several months before then. Godai was a wandering soul, and though he had a cell phone, the service was spotty at best, and his ability to pay the bill was impeded by both his location and whatever funds were available. It wasn't particularly easy to get in contact with him, but Godai never had any problems tracking down people he wanted to talk to.

It took Ichijo a long minute to plan out what he would say. 

"I've grown attached to a child." He started, hesitant.

"That's good!"

"Her parents were killed, Godai." 

"That's. .. Less good." Godai frowned.

"It was a case we were looking into. It seems like her father killed her mother, for now she's staying with family, but they don't know her that well. They're not willing to raise her on the long term. I'm. . ." He paused, even more bothered. "She'll go into a shelter, and become essentially an orphan."

"So adopt her!" Godai answered, as though the answer was clear as night and day. In truth, it wasn't, but just hearing Godai say aloud what Ichijo was considering made it seem as though it was.

"What's her name?"

"Nadeshiko. She's barely two years old. She likes heroes a lot." Talking about her made Ichijo smile.

"Do you think you could be a father?" Godai asked, knowing it was a question Ichijo dreaded. 

"I don't know." He answered. "I'm scared, I suppose. I don't want what happened to me. . ." He trailer off.

"It's okay, Ichijo!" Godai responded. "Those things, they do happen, but it won't make what you do any less important to her. What you do makes an impact."

He leaned in and cupped his hands around Ichijo's jaw, and Ichijo leaned in, expectantly taking the kiss that Godai planted on his lips.

Ichijo trusted Godai. Godai's father had died when he was young as well, after all. If there was anyone he trusted to be able to cope with death, it was Godai.


	6. Lecture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika joins the gang!

"It's not a Roidmude!" 

That's the last thing Shinnosuke remembered hearing before a sharp claw slammed into the side of his head.

That, and shortly before his vision went dark, another figure-- Black, white, and gold-- streaking across his vision. 

The next thing he knew he was coming to in the garage, flat on his back in one of the chairs, surrounded by people (and Kiriko-- He could hear her tears from a mile away and now was no exception.)

"What's going on!?" He sat up in a rush, causing the people around him to jerk back instinctively. Kiriko and Belt were there, of course, and Rinna-- And suddenly he realized someone else. 

"You!!" Shinnosuke glared and jabbed a finger at Godai's -- His father's!-- face. "What're you doing here?"

"I called him." Belt-san interjected before Godai could open his mouth. "He's your father, Shinnosuke, he deserves--"

"He doesn't need to be here!" Shinnosuke quickly replied, seeing red in anger. No one was supposed to know about Drive, especially not someone he barely knew! Especially not someone who, in his eyes, abandoned him and his mother several years ago!

"Shin, it's alright." Godai finally got a word in, Rinna and Kiriko looking equally as confused. Both of them knew Shinnosuke's family from either his profile or various photos they'd seen. Godai was young and free, he looked nothing like Shinnosuke's father.

"Shinnosuke, Godai Yuusuke may be your birth father, but that's not the reason he was called in." Belt added, seeing just how seething the Kamen Rider was. "Years ago, Godai Yuusuke himself was a warrior just as you are today."

"Kuuga!" Godai interrupted, like an excited dog. "I was Kuuga. Most of the press just called me Number Four."

"Number Four!?" Kiriko's surprise and admiration was evident. "I followed that case! I knew you were a hero the whole time!" She was beaming and Rinna joined her, bright smiles crossing the girls' faces.

"So you were the one who. . .?" Shinnosuke's brow furrowed. Godai shook his head in response.

"Nope!"

It was then that Shinnosuke noticed someone else-- A third girl, standing slightly off. She was short and busty, dressed in clothes significantly less fashionable than Kiriko and Rinna did. Hell, her clothes looked more similar to Yuusuke's than any girl's he'd ever seen, in jeans and a plaid button up. Looking down, he noticed she was even wearing boots, and her hair seemed to be thrown up into a simple claw clip.

She stepped forward as though on Godai's cue. 

"Natsume Mika." She bowed politely. "I use the Prototype Kuuga arcle. I fought today."

"I was saved by a girl!?" Shinnosuke blurted out, and suddenly was aware of three sets of glaring eyes on him. Godai and Mr. Belt were snickering.

"1975." Mika spoke.

"Eh?" Shinnosuke replied, brow furrowing once more. This entire five minute discussion had been a wild ride.

"That was the first year there was a female seen fighting alongside a Kamen Rider. Her identity was Yuriko Misaki. Barely out of high school, she'd gotten on the wrong side of an evil organization and had been turned into a cyborg-- Electro Wave Human Tackle. She was partner to Kamen Rider Stronger.

"After she died during battle, it was years until anyone else was able to step up to the plate. Many don't even remember her name. But one of the first things she said to Shigeru Joe when he doubted her skill as a fighter, and something you'd do good to learn, is," 

Mika leaned in and flicked Shinnosuke's forehead.

"It's not impossible for a girl."


	7. Weapon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika doesn't like Kiriko's gun.

Mika was outspoken and she was determined. Shinnosuke learned that in more ways than one.

Godai had explained that the monster that'd attacked Shinnosuke that day wasn't a Roidmude, but was, in fact, a grongi. He and Mika had been traveling between various cities to look for them, worried about them being in larger areas, and coming across Shinnosuke was a happy accident, it seemed.

Mr. Belt was the one who'd asked Godai to work with them, bringing along his protege, and it made Shinnosuke's life harder as a Kamen Rider. 

The thing that made him most annoyed was how much Mika insisted that Kiriko fight. 

There were Roidmudes around all the time, at this point. Drive ended up getting called out at least once a day. The last thing he needed was Kiriko in the way of danger, and yet, Mika encouraged it!

"Look for the weak spots," She'd say, crouching back with Kiriko during Drive's battles. "See where the outer shell is looser there? If you can wedge something in there, it's a done battle."

There was nothing compared to the yelling that happened when Mika saw Kiriko's gun for the first time. They were sitting around the garage, sans Godai who was God knows where, laughing and discussing the various hilarious things they'd come across, when Mika asked about Kiriko's weaponry.

Mika's eyes went wide and everyone in the room went quiet, even Rinna, who'd been in the middle of a phone call. Mika marched right up to Belt's caddy and everyone knew it was the calm before the storm. 

"How DARE you not give one of your most important members proper equipment! I've had BB guns with more power than that pea-shooter! Haven't you ever thought of how important she is to you?!"

"We just didn't--"

"Didn't what? Think that someone besides Drive could actually fight? People are getting hurt and dying because of this! We had a scientist who had to work overtime for months on end, leaving her child alone, to create bullets with the technology to let people without armor fight! What are you doing by not equipping those?! I know you have the case files for it! I know you have access to the data!"

And it was true. No one had given Kiriko anything stronger. They had wanted her to be safe, away from danger.

Mika turned to Kiriko, arms crossed.

"Kiriko, if you could fight, would you?" She asked.

"If I could. . .Of course." Kiriko answered honestly. Her job was to help with Drive, of course, but she'd love an opportunity to actually help. 

"Then why shouldn't you?!"

Mika stormed out, slamming the door behind her, and slowly things returned to normal. 

The next few battles went smoothly, without a sign of Godai or Mika, and but then Mika returned with something new in hand.

It was a rifle. A sniper rifle to be exact, and an amount of bullets hidden within a hard silver case for safe keeping. She stolled into the garage and set it at the table in front of Kiriko.

"This is Detective Kaoru Ichijo's rifle. With it, he destroyed Unidentified Life Form B1, known to the Grongi as Ra-Buraba-De. Without armor. I'm going to teach you how to use it."

"Mika, you can't just do that! Kiriko'll get hurt!" Shinnosuke approached aggressively, intent on defending her.

"Who're you to say that?" Mika replied. "And why're you saying it to me? Isn't it Kiriko's decision?"

Shinnosuke looked to Kiriko, almost desperate. "You don't really want to do this, do you, Kiriko? We just don't want you to get hurt!"

Kiriko thought over it for a moment. She thought about how much she'd wanted to be able to be Drive, how useless she'd felt having to be saved from monsters every other day. Her neutral expression turned to a glare.

"I want to fight, too. I want to fight, and if I can't fight as Drive," For a moment, she glanced sympathetically at Mr. Belt. "Then I'll fight other ways. . . I admired the Detective during the Unidentified Lifeforms crisis."

Shinnosuke paused for a moment, overcome by anger, but suddenly the name stood out to him. Ichijo. . . 

"Isn't that--" He was cut off by Mr. Belt once more.

"Godai Yuusuke's romantic partner. They have a child they've adopted."

Shinnosuke groaned, remembering him clearly. He'd just looked like a gentle old cop. He couldn't imagine that man using a gun with as much horsepower as the one that sat on the table.

None the less, Mika handed the gun and bullets to Kiriko and lead her out, sticking her tongue out at Shinnosuke as she exited the door.

Shinnosuke bared his teeth at her in response.

Rinna laughed at them both.


	8. Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika gets hurt. Mild gore descriptions further down; Mika gets hit in the stomach and ends up with a hole.

Godai rarely actually fought alongside Shinnosuke; He was always busy looking at other things, traveling around the nearby cities. In that sense, Shinnosuke thought he was pretty useless.

Mika, on the other hand, was always by his side. She didn't give Gou the time of day; His anticts different affect her one bit. She was always the first into battle, without concern for what was happening. It didn't matter what kind of abilities the monster had, they were going to hurt people and Mika didn't have time to let other people get hurt.

Prototype Kuuga and Drive fought well together. They were a great duo. And those weird bullets Mika'd gotten for Kiriko sure did help, as did the added firepower of a rifle.

Things seem to have calmed down for a while. Gou stressed Shinnosuke out, Shinnosuke worried about Kiriko, Mika kept them in check, and Godai was scarce, which prevented any family-based breakdowns on Shinnosuke's part. They all knew that this was only temporary, though.

No one wanted to admit that the battle could only get harder from here, not up until the day that it happened.

It was a standard fight, against a Roidmude. They'd only seen one or two Grongi since the time Mika'd protected Shinnosuke. Gou was no where to be found, and as usual, Mika had lept into battle first.

They worked well as a team; Tomari said to duck and Mika fucked. Mika told Tomari to get down and he did, unwittingly allowing himself to be used as a step stool to help her gain momentum for a kick.

There was one slip up, though. Tomari'd heard a noise, a motorcycle nearby he'd assumed was Chase, and in that moment he wasn't watching, wasn't paying attention, Mika was hit.

She was thrown back, hitting the ground with a sickening crack as her armor fell away. 

Tomari kept fighting, kept beating on the Roidmude, but he could her Mika's screaming, and Belt telling him to stop and check on her. 

He didn't hear Godai approach. He didn't see Godai lean down to check on Mika and pull his hands back, covered in blood. 

He did see when Godai lunged in, his body suddenly covered in black-- black and gold. Tomari could feel Godai's strength.

Godai pushed Tomari back with a palm to the chest as he rammed his leg into the Roidmude. Before Tomari could complain, he saw why. 

Godai had fallen onto his knee, bracing himself on the ground, as a symbol grew on the Roidmude's chest, and then an explosion that made Tomari shield his eyes. 

Before Tomari could question it, Godai was out of his armor and running back towards Mika, checking over her. 

"Go check on her!" Mr. Belt urged again and Tomari finally complied.

It wasn't pretty. Mika was certainly bleeding. It was covering her stomach and dripping onto her pants. He remembered her complaining about how hard it was to find pants that fit to Kiriko. 

Godai had lifted up her shirt, showing the damage. There was what seemed to be a gaping hole right under her belly button, ripped open. 

"Can I see your phone?" Godai asked, hiding his concern away, calming himself. Mika's screams had turned to pained groans. Seeing Godai's hands, red with blood, Tomari wrapped it in a handkerchief before offering it over, which earned him a partial glare.

Godai was quick to clean off his fingers before stepping away to dial numbers, leaving Tomari alone with Mika. 

Through the pain, Mika managed to open her eyes for a moment, looking towards him. She looked over, giving Tomari a smile, as gentle as Godai's smiles, before her body went limp, eyes falling back closed. 

"Godai!" Tomari called, his eyes going wide. He didn't want to be responsible for someone else getting hurt as it was, and he certainly didn't want to be responsible for someone's death. "She's not moving, she might be--"

Godai stared Shinnosuke down until he was quiet. "We're going to get her checked out. Don't panic. It won't benefit anyone. The question right now is," He directed his words to Shinnosuke's crotch. "Mr. Belt, would you be willing to give her a ride? She's not exactly in any condition to be on a motorcycle."

"I'd be glad to!"


End file.
